Mayor Potter didn't do Mr. Rosenbaum any favors when he appointed him as chairman of the PDC. I have always wondered why anyone would take any commissioner's position much less the chair position.

Pact with the devil?

It is probably the most thankless public service job in Portland. It is essentially a part time job that offers no compensation and no benefits. For the most part, those who take on the commissioner's job are still gainfully employed.

The commission is an easy target as anyone who has read my blog or any blog in Portland so well knows. If I were paid for my posts on PDC - I would be gainfully employed.

In the three years or so that I have been writing about PDC - I have never come to understand the organizational structure. But, from the outside looking in -it seems that the commission in fact plays little role in day to day working of PDC or even at a policy level.

The commission sits more in a position of a 'rubber stamp' in effect. Projects don't have prior approval of the commission and the commissioners see little more than the public, i.e., they have at their disposal the same documents.

Interesting is that I had the same feeling of euphoria when Mayor Potter started his reign and so too when Mr. Rosenbaum started as chair. I had hoped and expected a systemic change in the way the city and the PDC would conduct business.

Sadly though, I have the same disappointment in the utter failure of Mayor Potter and the disappointment of the role PDC played or, better yet, failed to play during the chairs's tenure. I want too much.

And, one must keep in mind that it was another Mayor Potter 'appointment' - the present executive director of PDC - whose tyranny (some would say) has nearly destroyed the internal organization while at the same time building a bureaucracy that has undermined the purpose of PDC.

Thus, from my perch - I see what I consider a disappointing term of the PDC chair largely because of the action and inaction of the mayor in his failure to stand behind his bureaus. His two major bureaus are the police department and PDC. Need I say more.

The PDC chair can't be absolved from the problems at PDC. From the very beginning Mr. Rosenbaum began as an activist chair. A great communicator and seemingly an individual with high expectations.

I used to attend nearly every PDC meeting and enjoyed the chair's grasp of the issues. He has the right background - financial - to understand that PDC is spending taxpayer dollars and that there needs to be a return on that investment.

I was impressed when PDC determined not to 'develop' the headquarters hotel project at the convention center. But - somewhere along the way - something happened.

What it was - maybe not a single event - is not known, but it was evidenced by a shift by PDC to letting city council dictate day to day operations as well as PDC policy.

The name of this blog is Old Town and it is what has happened to Old Town under this present commission chaired by Mr. Rosenbaum that forms the basis of my opinion. PDC has failed Old Town in virtually every way possible while ignoring its promises.

While it may not seem like it - I like and respect Mr. Rosenbaum [See an earlier post]. He is a successful business person and a genuine nice guy.

I suspect though that he is like many other people in leadership positions in Portland - they try too much to be part of consensus decision making.

There is a certain public affect too - the Portland way. It is difficult to know what goes on behind closed doors - at best, it is speculation. Sadly, the media has failed to cover PDC in any meaningful and on-going way.

In The Oregonian article, it was stated that Mr. Rosenbaum is expected to speak at Wednesday's commission meeting, and he was quoted as saying: "I do expect to give some very extensive remarks."